Improvement in contesting ieon into steel



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IMPROVEMENT IN CONVERTING IRON INTO flit: firlgehuie reirrnh in in timeitdtcrs finest zmlr mating hart of tbt same.

To ALL WHOM IT MAYYCONOERNQ Be it known that I, JOHN F. BOYNTON, ofSyracuse, in' the county of Onondaga, and State of Nev! York, haveinvented a, new and useful Method of Converting Iron into Steel; and Ido hereby declare that the following is a. full, clear, and exactdescription thereof. e

The iron to be converted into steel is placed in an oven or retort andheated to near the welding point.

Solid cyanides or solid ummoni acnl compounds are then dropped into theoven through'a. tube or cock with 21 recessin the plug, so that thequantity introduced can be measured. 'While this process is going on Iintroduce into the retort or oven, through a suitable tube a'currentofgases, either z ttmospheric air, cnrbnretted with hydrocarbons, orcnrburetted hydrogen. Those gases m he made to pass through a solutionof ammonia or nitrogen compounds, or the vapors of. these compounds maybe mingled with the gases before mentioned. By carbonizing the gasesusedby means ofhydrocarbon vapors olnrger .volume of carbon vapors willbe introduced and a; less quantity of gas will be required to completethe process. It is obvious that by using thesolid cynnides asabovementioned the requisite quantity of hydrogen compounds will bediminished, It is essential to keep up a-free circulation of the gasesthrough the oven, as the combination of these gases with the impurh tiesof the iron will produce compounds detrimental to the steel, and whichit is desirable in this way to get rid of. I make use for this processof crude coal gas 'just as it is evolved, without other purificationthan to separotc the sulphuretted hydrogen and other sulphur compounds,(and with or without carbonizing the some by means of hydrocarbonvapors,) as it contains the nitrogen, ammonia, and other hydrocarbonsnecessary for this result.

I do not claim any special form of oven or apparatus for carrying thismethod. into eli'ect, as any form of tight-oven in whie the iron crin hesufiicientlyheated, nndthrough which a. current of gas can be passed,will answer the purpose; but what l1 do claim as my invention, anddesire to secure by Letters Putent, is-

The herein-described.method of converting iron into steel by passingover or through it in a. close ovenor retort, and while in a.highly-heated state a current of corburetted or carbonized gas, and atthe some time dropping into the oven solid cyanides or solid ammoni'ecolcompounds, substantially as described.

JOHN F. BOYNTON.

Witnesses:

J. A.. Bnsssrr, .105. L. Coonns.

